Plastic-free packaging – short-term hype or new long-term solution? 

Many more brands are now advertising that their packaging is plastic free. What does it mean? Is this a new development towards more sustainable packaging or one more short-lived greenwashing wave? We will try to figure it out in this article.

What is plastic free?

First of all, no standard defines what is plastic free and it is open to interpretation.

Some companies interpret it as not having fossil fuel-based plastics in the packaging, meaning bioplastics (like PLA) can be considered plastic free. We do not agree. Biobased and/or compostable plastics (such as PLA) are subject to the Plastics Ordinance legislation.

Other companies interpret it as recyclable in the paper waste stream. We do not agree. Flexible packaging made purely from paper is not heat-sealable and does not have acceptable barrier properties to protect your product. That‘s why in most cases if the packaging has a paper layer on the outside, it will have an additional plastic layer on the inside. Different countries interpret differently how much paper needs to be in the packaging structure for it to be recyclable. Some countries, like France, say that 50% is enough to recycle such structures. Other countries, like Germany, require at least 90% to be paper. In any case, additional layers of plastic are not helping the recycling process.

Yet another interpretation of plastic-free is that packaging cannot have a single atom that can be considered plastic. While we would like this to be true, this is unrealistic. Your packaging needs branding on the outside and a special coating on the inside to protect your product from the environment and make it heat-sealable.

Our interpretation

After spending a lot of time researching and developing, we have finalized what we think a plastic-free paper pouch is. Our pouch does not have any additional layers of bioplastics. Our pouch does not have extra layers of PE or other plastics in the structure. Our pouch is food-grade and fully printable. Our pouch is of course recyclable in the paper waste stream.

On the other hand, our pouches are coated with a small layer containing polymers that give environmental protection for your product and make it heat-sealable. No zippers can be added to such a pouch as only plastic zippers are available on the market. This structure is not super strong – we do not recommend packing more than 500g of your products as the pouch might not pass the drop test.

We think we have developed a plastic-free recyclable paper pouch having maximum objectives and current limitations. There is no quality loss of the paper pulp in the recycling process and there is no colouration after the de-inking process. This makes it a very interesting and sustainable option in the long term.

Contact us or book a free consultation to discuss how this could be applied to your needs and products.